Helldivers 2’s Battle for Super Earth was a climactic event with players finally touching down on home soil to thwart an enormous Illuminate invasion amid liberty’s Mega City populations. This made for a wonderful and epic culmination of the Illuminate threat thus far, particularly with new Illuminate enemy types to fell and mission types to indulge in while navigating Super Earth’s towering, labyrinthine skyscrapers. In the weeks since players’ victory over Helldivers 2’s Illuminate enemy faction, though, the former threat arguably hasn’t remained shelved long enough.
Helldivers 2 surprisingly never relinquished the concept of Mega Cities after players had left Super Earth, though they are scarce. Now, Helldivers 2 has launched a commemorative cape for players who were active between May 13 and June 2. There is no doubt that this commemorative cape, titled Protector of the Heart, is phenomenal and a treat for active veterans of the Battle of Super Earth. Rather, it only seems futile and unearned when the Illuminate have already returned with renewed strength.
Helldivers 2’s Battle of Super Earth is a Nightmare of the Illuminate’s True Might
Helldivers 2's Illuminate fleet has reached Super Earth, meeting the Helldivers and SEAF units in an epic struggle for humanity's last bastion.
Helldivers 2’s Battle of Super Earth Win was Short-Lived
Besides a brief respite in favor of Helldivers 2’s bugdivers, the Illuminate faction and players’ defeat of it debatably hasn’t been allowed to digest. Squids were obviously not going to be wiped out and eradicated from Helldivers 2 forever, but having them take a well-earned back seat so that Terminids and Automatons could gain proper attention would’ve made sense.
Helldivers 2’s three enemy factions have proven to be incredibly self-sufficient, with the ideal of rotating Major Orders giving each its heyday. Something of the Battle of Super Earth’s scale for bugs or bots wouldn’t be necessary in the meantime, but having the Illuminate back after virtually no time at all—particularly with new Illuminate enemies leaked, as well—undercuts how momentous the Battle of Super Earth was meant to be.
Helldivers 2’s present Major Order, which ends in three days, states:
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Reclaim the planets whose cities have been twisted by the Illuminate.
- Liberate Alairt 3
- Libertate Alamak 7
Helldivers 2’s Commemorative Super Earth Cape is Great, But Eclipsed by Looming Tentacles
Like the Fallen Hero’s Vengeance cape that was awarded for Malevelon Creek Memorial Day, commemorating players’ service during Helldivers 2’s iconic fall of Malevelon Creek, Battle of Super Earth veterans now have their own cape to relish in their civil duty and reflect on a huge event. Players indeed won on Super Earth, and the cape does mark that triumph beautifully; however, with the Illuminate attacking cities and planets in Helldivers 2’s latest MO as if they never left, it hardly seems as if the Battle of Super Earth was impactful at all.
Helldivers 2’s Fallen Hero’s Vengeance cape description reads:
“Our heroic fallen live on in this cape, guiding its bearer’s aim to the heart of those who killed them.”
Helldivers 2’s Protector of the Heart cape description reads:
“When the Illuminate threatened Super Earth, the very Heart of Democracy, the Helldivers answered the call.”
To be clear, this cape is a fantastic cosmetic badge of honor. Still, while Super Earth itself may have been spared the same treatment that befell Mars and a whole series of systems in the Illuminate’s beelined wake, the Illuminate clearly weren’t quelled that definitively.
It might have been easier to wear Helldivers 2’s Protector of the Heart cape with pride if bugs and bots received limelight for the foreseeable future, offering squids time to recuperate and players time to reacclimate to loadouts and strategies wielded against the game’s other enemy factions. Instead, the Illuminate are once again a focal point, as are cities, and the Battle of Super Earth is in the rearview as far as new perils are concerned.
Helldivers 2
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 83 /100 Critics Rec: 91%
- Released
- February 8, 2024
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- Arrowhead Game Studios, Nixxes
- Publisher(s)
- Sony Interactive Entertainment, PlayStation Publishing
WHERE TO PLAY
- Engine
- bitsquid
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op
- Cross-Platform Play
- All platforms
- Franchise
- Helldivers
- Number of Players
- 1-4 players (online)
- Genre(s)
- Third-Person Shooter, Extraction Shooter, Action, Science Fiction
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
